Thirst
by Mad March
Summary: When the sun sets, a savage world that feeds on darkness emerges from the shadows. Apollo must learn to live his new life in this underworld, least he be razed under the teeth of fellow monsters, but can he really just throw away his humanity that easily?
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hello there. No joke, this is an Apollo Justice vampire fic. Probably will be OC heavy. Umm, I'm not sure what else to say.

And I'm only going to say this once. There will be blood. Lots of blood. Rating might have to be upped later. Post-AJ.

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Thirst

Okay, so maybe wandering aimlessly through dark alleyways in the dead of night wasn't one of the smartest things I'd ever done. And believe me, I've done some pretty stupid things in my time. Well, I wasn't exactly _wandering_ through dark alleyways aimlessly in the dead of night; I was actually heading to my apartment after an uneventful day at the Wright Anything Agency. I had fallen asleep and by the time I'd left I was still half asleep and it was pretty late, which led to my current predicament, namely me, quite possibly at the worst time and place, being totally lost. And on top of that, I could swear I had just seen a human-shaped shadow move right beyond that wall. Great way to spend a Friday night.

But before I get too into how screwed I was, I should introduce myself. I'm Apollo Justice, attorney at law, currently working as a defense attorney at the Wright Anything Agency along with Trucy Wright and her father, Phoenix Wright. I've been working there for about four or so months. Exactly a week ago was the end of my fourth court case, the result of which was my ex-mentor getting dragged off to jail… Again. You think you know a guy and you'd trust him with your life, until it turns out he killed a few people, hospitalized another, gotten an innocent lawyer disbarred and had tried to frame him for murder. Emotionally straining? A bit. I can't even begin to think what his brother, Klavier, is probably going through. I don't know what sort of relationship they had, but I'm willing to bed my incredibly low paycheck that Klavier is more than emotionally _strained._ I'd been meaning to go visit him and see if he was okay, though I'm not sure what I could do to make him feel better. Maybe I'd get a chance this weekend, if got home tonight in one piece. Ah, back to the being lost issue.

I quickened my pace, dismissing the shadow as a… stray animal or maybe some random debris blowing in the wind, like a plastic bag. Yeah, a human-shaped plastic bag, totally. Well it was way too late for anyone to be wandering around the streets alone anyway, unless they're lost, like me. There was a bench under a light post across the street, maybe I could sleep there for the night and find my way back in the morning when I could actually see where I was going. If I covered myself in newspapers, maybe people would just think I was a hobo and they wouldn't bother mugging me. Geez this sucked.

I did a double take real quick. Call me paranoid, but I was sure I was being watched. Nothing but the darkness of an empty alleyway intersection. I got to the bench without anyone jumping out from the shadows or anything, so that was a plus. As long as I was under the light post I'd be able to see anyone, or anything, that came my way, so that made me feel a little better. But if that someone or something turned out to be hostile, being able to defend myself was another matter. That made me feel a little worse.

After a few minutes of sitting on the bench, my sense of safety from the light post began to wear off, and I built up the nerve to survey my surroundings.

The street I had crossed ran left to right in front of me, but I could only see how far it went from the patches of light provided by lamp posts scattered around. Behind me was a medium-height iron fence, maybe 5 or 6 feet tall. I couldn't see how far it ran, but on my left side there was an arched entryway leading into the dark expanse beyond. Straining my eyes I could barely make out the words on the colorful arch.

'People Park.'

Oh man did I feel stupid. I'd been wandering around for God knows how long and the Wright Office wasn't far away from me at all. This entryway didn't look familiar, so I figured I must be at the northern part of the park. I felt loads better once I knew where I was at least, and I had a key to the office. Maybe I could just head back over and spend the remaining part of the night over there. I sure wish I had my bike or money for a cab right now. Actually, I wish I had either of those things before I tried to make my way home.

I sighed. No use sitting around any longer, as much as I disliked the idea of walking one more step along the dimly lit streets. So of course, now was the perfect time for a startling loud noise to emit from the darkness in front of me and scare me half to death. Maybe a cat's meow isn't _that_ loud, but against the ambient background noise of vacant avenues my ears had gotten used to, it sounded like a freaking shotgun going off.

The cat that came stalking out of the shadows was a light grey color, and as far as I could tell, just your everyday alley cat if not a bit too well groomed to be a stray. Probably just a regular housecat that spent lots of its time outdoors, I could see where tufts of fur had grown around scars all over its body. It looked like a pretty geezerly cat. It sauntered into the light all nonchalant the way cats do, regarding me for only a second.

After I had regained a normal heart rate, I laughed quietly to myself for freaking out so much if a cat was the biggest creature I was gonna face tonight. The cat took notice of me again

"Ah, you found Jessibelle for me…" a soft, yet piercing, raspy voice emitted from farther in the shadows of the alleyway. The voice I can only compare to a thawing river; sluggishly flowing water with shards of ice veiled in its transparency. (Or maybe I can compare it to a ballerina with knives hidden in her shoes. But the first one sounds way more poetic.)

"…The cat? O-oh yeah, no problem…" was all I could think to say while standing up quickly. The appearance of another person had totally caught me off guard and I could only stare as a girl emerged from the shadows as the cat I assumed to be Jessibelle strode over to her. It meowed grumpily but didn't seem to mind as she was picked up. The girl had light brown, medium length hair and wore a rather frilly dark colored dress. I couldn't see that well since she was still standing half in the shadows. Her eyes were half-lidded, she looked like she was really tired, and thirsty by the way she wouldn't stop swallowing. She smiled slowly, and I returned it hesitantly, but the girl still made no move to step into the light.

She looked rather young, maybe around my age at most. No way could she be dangerous, I almost managed to convince myself. But why would someone be out here taking a stroll in the middle of the night? "A-are you lost? Have you been looking for your cat all night?" I asked more out of curiosity than anything, well, suspicion too, I guess.

"Jessibelle got away from me awhile ago… but I know exactly where I am," she started to walk forwards toward me, her eyes shadowed. I slowly edged backwards with every step she took. Something was…off with this child. "Do you?"

"A-actually, I… I was just on my way home." My heart was pounding. Just a straight dash through People Park and a few blocks to the office, and I could definitely outrun this girl. Jessibelle dropped to the ground, freeing up her owner's hands which I could tell were trembling with anticipation. Her grin was wide, and it was then when my instincts kicked in, every cell in my body telling me to _get the hell out of there._

I took off like a rocket through the park, or more accurately, a scared rabbit. That girl… her feet made no sound when she had walked, and when I had seen her smile in the light, I _know_ she had some unnaturally long cuspid-action going on there. (Cuspids are fang-teeth, just in case you're not as nerdy as I am.) I was way too afraid to look behind me to see if she was following me, but I could hear creepy giggling not far behind. It was obvious she wasn't human; she had no problem keeping up with me at my fastest sprint. I may not be one of those weirdo Goths who're into all that supernatural stuff, but I knew a vampire when I saw one. Something in my gut had recognized it before I could have made the call.

Her feet didn't make noise as she ran, so when she stopped laughing like a crazy lady I would have no idea where she was. My throat was starting to burn with all the air I had been sucking in and I was starting to tire, but I was almost to the other side of the park, where that doctor had been shot pulling the noodle carts a few months ago. I tried to think through all the panic clouding my mind. The girl was definitely going to catch up to me before I got to the office. Was she going to kill me? Suck out my blood and make me one of her undead army? Well, being turned into a vampire and being killed were pretty much the same thing, weren't they? I didn't know much about vampires, except that they could be killed by stakes through their heart, they burned up in the sunlight, and they didn't like garlic. Were vampire victims common and the people were just told they died of blood loss or something? Would they find my body and know what happened? I had promised Trucy that I'd go see one of her shows at the Wonder Bar next week…

No no no, now was definitely not the time to think about those things. There was still a chance I would make it out of this alive. The Kitaki mansion was pretty close, I could run in there and… do… something… Well, maybe going up to that place wasn't the greatest idea anyway. Unless they were willing to help me out and had… silver bullets or whatever. I had no idea what time it was, but it was way too dark outside to even _hope_ that the sun might come up soon. I didn't even know if she really would be affected by any of that stuff in those old stories! I was going to die!

I slammed into another light post as I flew through the south entry of People Park, spinning to the other side to lessen the impact. She was still following me. Walking at a seemingly leisurely pace, maybe twenty or thirty yards behind me with her cat beside her. She'd started giggling again too. "If you stop running, I promise I'll make it quick," her frightening and melodic voice called out to me. I just started running blindly.

No idea where I was going, which way the office or the park was, I just had to get away from her. The only sound I could hear was my own panicked breathing and my heart thudding in my ears. She must've stopped playing around with me, coming in for the kill, and unfortunately I didn't mean that figuratively. I fell, panting heavily in front of a wall. There was nothing more I could do. I hoped she would keep her promise of making it quick; dying probably wasn't going to feel very pleasant the slower it was executed. (Pun not intended.) I waited for my life to flash before my eyes, but the part of me that wanted to keep fighting wouldn't let me succumb just yet.

My entire body felt like it was on fire, my lungs must have spontaneously combusted. My respiratory system had never been in this much pain, not even in those good 'ole days of middle school with those fun half hour non-stop runs. I tried to crawl away from the figure standing over me, but her gaze seemed to hold me in place and my throat hurt too much to try and scream. She knelt down beside me and took my chin lightly with her hand as I looked at her with wide, frightened eyes.

My muscles instantly froze up. She tilted my head up as my vision started to fade. The lights were getting dimmer, and I was only faintly aware of the hand moving my shirt collar. I felt a faint pressure on my neck before I blacked out.

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AN: Loollolo. Lolo. Olo. Review plz! Questions, comments, suggestions, I want them all! GIVE THEM TO MEEEE.

I sure hope I'll be able to finish this fic. XD;;

Oh yeah, and these vampires aren't based off of anything specific, sort of a mesh of different types of vampires... And this isn't a crossover fic. Meh.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Apollo Justice, Spiderman, and other random allusions do not belong to me.

AN: Somehow, starting school has increased my fic-wrighting production.

Thank you everyone who reviewed and all that good stuff!

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Thirst, chapter 2

I woke up screaming. My eyes snapped open as I sat up, the world blurry for a few moments before I recognized the wall of my own bedroom. I only realized I was shrieking bloody murder when my throat started to feel raspy, my chords of steel probably kicking the volume up a bit higher than other _common _mortals. I sat in my bed panting for awhile, willing my brain to come back to its senses. All I was aware of was a horrible panic flooding through me, completely blocking out all rational thought. Slowly I began to remember what had happened in the last moments that I was conscious, which somehow caused my panic to recede and bring me back from momentary madness.

I looked around. The sun was just rising, or, maybe it was setting. Well either way, it was half above/below the horizon as far as I could tell. I was absolutely starving and my throat felt horribly dry, not to mention I had been screaming for the past few minutes. I was wearing the same clothes that I had been last night (I had assumed it was last night that it took place), nothing seemed too out of the ordinary. My fingers skimmed my neck lightly, looking for the two puncture wounds that would tell me if I had been dreaming or not- though I had a hard time believing that could have been a dream. I'd never had a dream that vivid or terrifying.

I couldn't find anything that resembled a bite mark on my neck, and what other proof did I need to tell myself that it was a dream? Well, if I hadn't been bitten, that was absolutely fine with me. Being a vampire probably wasn't a lifestyle exceptionally conducive to the greater good. Maybe I'd just hit my head, lost my memory of coming home, and had a freaking psycho dream. Yeah, that sounded likely enough, I've had some pretty crazy dreams before. Like when a race of tribal rabbits kidnapped me and took me to their underground civilization, where they worshiped me as a god, then a big dinosaur came and ate them all and a squadron of F-14s shot its arms off- yeah, you get the idea. Surely the entire thing was a bizarre dream. Definitely.

My muscles ached as I slid out of bed and I tried to ignore the stinging light of the sun in my eyes. I unbuttoned my vest and undid my tie and threw them onto the bed, making a mental note to put them away later. Stiff joints greeted me with an unpleasant snapping noise when I walked over to the bathroom, still unsure if I would be able to see my reflection or not. Luckily I could, and boy did I look like crap. Have you ever gone to bed and forgot to wash out all your hairgel? Well imagine that, and then think about how much hairgel _I_ use. Needless to say, I could use a shower. I was looking pretty pale and my stomach was growling profusely, but after observing my stunning lack of fangs, I could come to the safe conclusion that I was not a vampire.

I pulled off my shirt, ready to get myself cleaned up as quickly as possible, when something made me pause; a strange glimmer had caught my eye. I paused and searched in the mirror for the source of it before unbuttoning the rest of my shirt and pulling it off my shoulders. There, about two inches to the left of where I would classify the base of my neck, were a pair of small, elliptical glistening scars, about and inch apart from each other. I swallowed, both in a reaction of fear and an attempt to wet my dry throat. Crazy angle she must've been at to bite me there, I thought to myself, but then I reasoned that such an angle would have been impossible as long as she was still made of solid matter. Gulping again, I turned my back to the mirror and craned my neck back enough to see another pair of scars on the other side of my shoulder. That was the moment when it all sunk in and I had nagging fear that just gulping down some water wasn't going to help my deprived digestive system.

I closed my eyes and shuddered as I tried to dismiss my visualization of that girl's jaws clamped onto my shoulder. WAY to miss the artery, lady. The four fang marks instead of two made it all seem so much more animalistic and frightening. I bet she could've gotten off a good chunk of my flesh if she had pul- okay, discontinuing that line of thought.

I turned my back to the mirror, packed my bags, and headed off to Denial Island. I didn't want to think about the bite marks, I didn't want to think about that creepy girl, and I didn't want to think about the fact that my wounds had had time to heal almost completely. What I wanted to do was to eat something before my stomach acid started disintegrating my innards.

I showered off quickly to get the caked-on gel out of my hair at least, and threw on a T-shirt and shorts as I ran to the kitchen, praying that I had remembered to stock the fridge last week. Of course that's when I remembered that Mr. Wright barely ever paid me enough to buy much to stock my refrigerator with on a regular basis- and he still hadn't gotten money for the last case I took.

I grabbed a half-eaten bowl of spinach-looking substance, checking it over quickly for mold or any other unwanted additions to my meal. It was a little hard to tell since it was green anyway, but it was the best this I had available and I didn't want to take any chances with the suspicious wriggling blue mass in the back of the fridge. I stuck the spinach in the microwave, unsure if that would make it taste any better, and filled a glass with tap water. It actually quenched my thirst when I drank it which surprised me a little, I was half expecting to be craving blood, but everything seemed pretty normal so far. I probably chugged water for a solid 60 seconds before my spinach started to pop in the microwave and I had to run over and stop it before it exploded everywhere. I tore into it immediately, barely registering the taste before it got down my throat. (It didn't taste that bad really.)

Trying not to inhale too much of the spinach-smell, I was in the middle of filling the bottomless pit of my stomach when someone came a knock-knock-knocking at the door to my apartment in the classic knocking rhythm, where the person on the inside knocks back two times. (You know, dun dun dundundun, and then the other person answers with dun dun! Well, how else am I supposed to explain it?!)

Only one, maybe two people I knew would do that, so with my bowl of spinach in hand, I shuffled over to the door and opened it to find none other than Trucy Wright, professional magician and my assistant in all that is lawful.

"Polly!" her expression instantly brightened at the sight of me. "You didn't do the knock right, you're supposed to knock back!" She knocked twice on the open door to demonstrate. "Though I suppose it's alright since you're sick…" her brow furrowed slightly in concern.

I swallowed my mouthful of spinach before replying. "I'm not sick, I feel fine." I said hoarsely. Well, I certainly didn't SOUND fine. Chords of steel sure got a workout when I woke up.

Trucy ignored me, grinning. "You know what always makes me feel better when I'm sick? A hot bowl of noodles!" Wow, Mr. Wright couldn't afford to buy her some chicken noodle soup like all the other children?

"I'm fine," I repeated, shoving another forkful of spinach into my mouth.

"You look like a wreck, Apollo!" she said, smiling. "You're as pale as a ghost! And well, I guess your hair doesn't defy gravity by itself…" Well geez, thanks Trucy. She was right though, I hadn't been expecting any visitors today so I hadn't spiked my hair up properly.

"Okay, I suppose I may not be at the epitome of health," I said once I had swallowed. "So why did you come here?"

Her finger tapped at her chin as she looked into the distance thoughtfully. "Daddy and I were worried about you when you didn't come to work today without even calling in sick."

Wh-what? How long had I been out? It was Friday night the last time I had been conscious… "…Trucy, what's today? Like the day of the week?"

"Why, its Monday of course! Like 7 o'clock, I dunno I never wear a watch… What, didja lose track of time over the weekend? One time I slept in on Monday because I forgot that I had school, I missed the bus so I hitchhiked the entire way there. My teacher was so mad-" hitchhiking? Faster than riding your bike I suppose…

I sighed, deciding to come clean with her. "Trucy, the truth is, I was so sick that I slept through the whole weekend and I only just woke up right now." No reason to tell her about the vampires or anything.

"Apollo Justice, you liar!" she put her hands on her hips and looked at me the way a mother looks at the child who stole the cookies from the cookie jar. "You said you were fine, Liar McLiarpants!"

"I say a lot of things." I waved my hand dismissively. She sure was getting… creative with the name-calling.

"How do you think you got sick? IS IT CONTAGIOUS?" she jumped back from me as if if it WAS contagious, it wouldn't have infected her already.

"It must have been… Food poisoning. From that noodle place," I lied. But really, I'm surprised Mr. Wright hasn't keeled over by now with the amount of sodium in that stuff. Trucy's eyes flickered over to my suspiciously unhealthy-looking bowl of spinach to my face. I was afraid that she would figure out I was hiding something with her sharp eyes, but she didn't press the matter. "Shouldn't be contagious." _As long as I don't bite you,_ I added in my head.

She decided it safe to approach me again. "Well that's good. Or… Bad. Um, it's good it's not contagious, but bad that you got sick," she finally decided on. "Are you sure you're okay here by yourself? Will you be able to come to the office tomorrow?"

"Y-yeah, I'll be fine." I polished off the last of my spinach, feeling thirsty again.

"Daddy will be glad to know that you're feeling alright now."

"Mmhmm." Really thirsty. My throat felt so dry…

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow I suppose."

"Yep." Like I'd swallowed a mouthful of sand or something.

Trucy stepped forward to hug me goodbye, like she had done a hundred times before. (Seriously, what is it with teenage girls and hugging?)

As soon as she touched me, I could hear a heavy pounding in my ears, a steady, rhythmic beat that I knew I wasn't causing.

I could _feel_ it too. Her pulse beating beneath my hands. My bracelet seemed to be throbbing along with it too.

I closed my eyes for a second to ponder this new development, and her entire circulatory system seemed to be mapped out in three-dimensions before me. The tiny veins and arteries spreading through her limbs, the delicate contractions of her ventricles, pumping blood through her carotid arte-

"Polly?"

"Yes?"

"Are you alright?"

I opened my eyes to find that I was standing very close to the girl; my face was almost up against the fragile skin that was barely all that protected her jugular vein from me. I jerked back with a horrified expression on my face, breaking the weird connection I had with her, my extra perception of her blood disappeared as quickly as it began.

She looked at me with a confused and concerned expression, but I couldn't meet her eyes.

"B-bye Trucy," I nearly fell back into my apartment in my haste to shut the door.

It was horrible that I slammed the door on Trucy like that, but I couldn't be around her with the vision of her circulatory system messing with my head. I pressed my fingers up against my teeth- normal sized, no blood-induced fang growth, to my relief.

This was so weird, some seriously crazy stuff was happening to me obviously. After nearly hyperventilating for a minute, I was just glad it wasn't happening like most of the media portrayed, or how I had probably imagined it would. Though of course, it was only the first day, maybe the bloodlust just had a delayed reaction. Surely it would only be a matter of time before I became a blood-craving monster, like that girl with the cat. I shuddered at the thought of her.

Guzzling some more water, I weighed my options.

1. Terrorize the townsfolk and suck people's blood until a vampire hunter or something comes along and kills me.

2. Kill myself.

…Neither of those options sounded very attractive.

3. Drink donor blood and become a friendly neighborhood vampire, like Spiderman only with bats.

They keep blood in hospitals, don't they? And blood banks. That sounded pretty doable. Hmm, the name Batman was already taken, Captain Justice, then?

4. Find a cure.

By far the best and most difficult choice. Surely there was a cure for vampirism? It was in all the movies and stuff. There had to be a cure. Somewhere.

Details come later. I wanted to know what I could and couldn't do.

Could I turn into a bat? Could I walk up walls, or fly? That would be pretty cool.

Could I ever see the sun again? Could I resist hurting people I care about? Could I restrain myself from ripping out Trucy's throat the next time I saw her? None of which I was willing to put to the test.

No, I would never hurt Trucy, Mr. Wright, Prosecutor Gavin- anyone. I _couldn't._ I was willing to do whatever it took to make sure that no one around me got hurt, even if it meant taking the advice of the creatures responsible for this.

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AN: Why do I always hate my fics after I wright them? (pun intended)

In any case, I feel the need to put something here.

Oh, there was a shout-out to my buddy Kathy in here, once upon a time, we RP'd and in the plot there were vampire ravaging the spinach fields of the peaceful kingdom it was taking place in. :D

Review pleazorz! Or uh, don't, if you don't wanna.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Apollo Jusice and all related characters do not belong to me. And neither does Twilight or whatever crazy references I threw in here.

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Thirst, chapter 3

The rest of the night went by rather uneventfully, around 8 or 9 I ran out of spinach, but luckily I had some frozen mini corn dogs at the back of my freezer. I Wikipedia'd vampires and I tried to bore myself to sleep with gory B-rated sci-fi movies on TV. (Apparently Bulgarian vampires had only one nostril…?!) In this one, some sort of top-secret government experiment virus had turned people into zombies, much like the last three movies I had watched. Mass hysteria usually ensued, followed by a country-wide apocalypse that was too predictable to keep my attention span long enough to be horrified by peoples guts flying about. I wondered if foreign countries had zombie flicks like this… Anyway, I was secretly glad that all the blood splashing across the screen didn't seem appetizing in the least.

Most of what was on Wikipedia about traditional vampires seemed absolutely bogus after I skimmed over it, and I exited out after reading that vampires from the Rocky Mountains were rumored to suck blood with their noses and from the victim's ears. Well, either I read that or I was delusional. Starring at a computer screen late at night is a good way to kill your brain and/or eyes. Nowadays, all the kids were crazy about the modern vampires that were all suave and attractive, like that Gary-Sue Edward guy. Trucy probably knew more about vampires than I did. Now that presented another problem, should I tell Trucy and Mr. Wright or not? Over the months, I had sort of come to think of them like family… I didn't know if they would believe me though, or how they would react. If someone had told me they were a vampire a few days ago there was no way I would have believed them. And to be honest, Mr. Wright sort of seemed like the type of guy who might stake me through the heart while I was sleeping if I got him PO'd enough. Nah, I was probably just being silly.

I supposed I just shouldn't tell them for now, as it didn't seem like they would be in any real danger yet… As long as I didn't touch them. I didn't want that weird circulatory-sixth-sense thing messing with my head. And as long as no one had any open wounds or started to bleed randomly, everything should be fine.

It was around midnight when I realized I had forgotten to turn any lights on and I could still see perfectly. I couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing, though. It occurred to me that I probably had some other superspecial vampire skills that might be worth investigating, and I guessed I should make the most of this, at least until I found a cure. Too bad I didn't know jack-squat about vampires besides they sucked blood with their fangs and turned into bat I guess. And can see in the dark, apparently. I hadn't Googled anything on cures yet, but I had a feeling most of what was going to be on there was typed up by whack-jobs. (Because if it's not on Wikipedia then it's not true, obviously!) I hoped to find some real vampires who could uh, show me the ropes or something. If anyone, they would know of a cure. I probably could have gone out tonight and found them, but I was glad I was at least _alive_ for now, wouldn't want to push my luck too much. Blah. Out of mini corndogs.

I sure hoped I'd be able to go to work tomorrow, or for that matter, any day of the year if I was at risk of turning to ashes in the sunlight. The fact that I might never be able to go out in the sun again was rather depressing, and what a PERFECT place for me to live too, LA of all places!

Anyway. I compiled a list of generic vampire weaknesses so that I wouldn't accidentally… melt myself like the wicked witch of the west. Well, Dorothy melted the witch didn't she? All I remember about that that movie was how tacky those flying monkeys were. I had found a website that actually had a list of generic… vampireness. (1) It generally went like this:

Vampires need blood.

Vampires can change humans into other vampires.

Vampires are badass.

Stakes, decapitation, and direct sunlight kill vampires.

Vampires cannot cross running water, and are harmed by holy water, crosses, fire, garlic, and silver. (I thought that was werewolves…?)

No reflection, heartbeat/breath, don't bleed, and physical stuff like fangs, being pale, and having glowing eyes of doom.

Vampires are immortal.

…Best to remain optimistic. I didn't know what was true or not but I should still keep that list in mind. Though I wasn't feeling very badass at that point. I checked to see if I had a pulse too. I had one, but it did seem a little slower than normal, or maybe I was just paranoid. There was a bunch of other stuff on the website, but lots of it just said how vampire "skeelz" vary in different movies and books and whatever. So nothing that seemed like an actual vampire may be writing from experience.

At 5 A.M. I decided to practice my chords of steel after trying to figure out if I could emit sonic echolocation waves or something. Hopefully at least some habit or semblance of my regular life would make me feel better. The guy in the apartment above me banged on his floor and yelled at me for making such a ruckus and that people were trying to sleep, and I smiled. It was hard to grasp how life was going on so normally for everyone else after all the paranormal crap that was happening to me. Wait, paranormal is like, aliens and ghosts.

And I was still hungry. I'd been eating all night and I was beginning to think that it was more than just coma-induced lack of food and water for three days. I'd have to go get groceries soon; I had already gone through a maximum of a weeks' worth of food. Trucy owed me a sandwich too, after she had STOLEN one of mine the other day, the insensitive child.

xXx

I went to work early to avoid any chance of bursting into flame in the sunlight. Really, REALLY early. Like 6 AM. I really did feel bad that Trucy was worried enough about me to come visit, so I figured I should at least come to work today and see if I could handle hanging around them and stuff.

Unlocking the door, I stepped in to the office warily. I was still a bit jumpy after the whole getting-attacked thing, and several times I nearly ran into parked cars and light posts because I was looking for movement out of the corner of my eye instead of looking at what was right in front of me, which I will admit, does not make a lot of sense. Ew, it was so cluttered in here. I plopped myself on the couch and kicked off a few of Trucy's magical props, where they joined the rest of their plastic brethren on the floor. I grabbed a bottle of grape juice out from under the couch and popped it open. Mr. Wright always kept a few handy in easily accessible places, when he was too lazy to get up. It was borderline addiction with all the juice that man drank; personally I would have been happy to never see another bottle of grape juice again after _that _trial, but with how parched I was right now, Mr. Wrights juice-stash would probably come in handy. I'd better not drink too much though, or he'd make me go buy him some more with my own money.

My sides ached at the enormous yawn I erupted with right then. My eyes stayed shut afterwards. I was awake the whole night; surely I could just take a nap before the other guys got here. I chugged down the rest of the juice and put the empty bottle on the floor, settling into a more comfortable position. Even though I had spent a few days in some sort of coma, sleep came easily.

I started awake at a heavy pack of paper falling onto my face, and the unpleasant smell of newspaper that accompanied it. They slid onto the floor as I jerked forward, my first reaction being one of panic, my brain kicking my senses into gear to ready myself for an assault. I stared at Mr. Wright for a moment before I could recognize who he was.

"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to hit your head. It's kind of hard to aim a stack of papers from over here." He almost smirked when he saw my blank expression. "Glad to see you back. You feeling any better?"

I leaned over to straighten out the pile of newspaper to help me wake up properly before responding. "Yeah, I guess I am." I croaked out from my dry throat. So thirsty… "So, is there any reason you dumped all this stuff on my face or were you just trying to wake me up without making the arduous trek over here."

He walked over to the couch pointedly, and helped me gather up the rest of the papers. He fished out a section of it, handed it to me, stacked the rest on the couch, and walked away without another word. That greatly succeeded in freaking me out. It was the Sunday paper, from last week.

The front page was something about some gangster kids that all got arrested for doing something stupid, that couldn't have been what Mr. Wright wanted me to see. I flipped through a few pages, looking for a murder case or something that he must've wanted me to take, before I nearly had a heart attack when I read a headline on the fourth page. My breath caught in my parched throat as I stared at the newspaper.

'_Former Defense Attorney Kristoph Gavin Commits Suicide.'_

In utter disbelief, I sat there for a solid four minutes before I could start reading the article. Kristoph Gavin, my old mentor, there was no way would he ever commit suicide. But it had to be him, I didn't know of any other Kristoph Gavin's that used to be defense attorneys. And the first line in the article clearly stated that he was Klavier Gavin's brother. Mr. Gavin was always so…I don't know, I was going to say calm and collected, but the last time I saw him he had proven me wrong on that account. If anything, I was pretty sure that his pride would never let him do something like that, but I've been wrong about him before of course. You think you know a guy, and they turn out to be a murderer, eh? Maybe he'd pulled a Seppuku, dying with honor or whatever. Though you were supposed to do that BEFORE you got captured by the enemy, and I guess he'd already lost all of his honor. Maybe he finally realized that he was absolutely beaten, that he would never have a chance to get back at Mr. Wright ever again. Revenge seemed to be the driving force behind him for seven long years; he must've felt like he had nothing to live for anymore.

He died on Saturday, the day after the trial. No matter how guilty he may have been it still horrified me that it was sort of my fault that he was put in jail… and then killed himself. I knew I would have to take on this responsibility when I chose to become a lawyer, but at the time I never thought I would have to prove my own mentor guilty of a murder he actually committed. Died of blood loss, slit himself across the throat Sweeney-Todd style with a sharp piece of brick that cracked off the wall. Oh God, what a horrifying mental image. I threw the paper back onto the couch before my mind could recreate the terrible scene that the guards must have seen when they found the body, the glassy, lifeless blue eyes that stared forward, frozen with the pain that had previously coursed through his body, like the lifeblood that was spilling from his maimed neck and slicked down his long hair that fanned across the floo- aw man it was too late.

I sprang off the couch and followed Mr. Wright across the office. He was at the refrigerator, downing a bottle of grape juice of course. He reached into the fridge and tossed me a bottle too. "You look thirsty." Damn straight. Revulsion and disturbing mental images momentarily forgotten, I twisted open the cap and started gulping the juice down in the same second.

Soon after, the bottle was drained, and an awkward silence settled in the room. I had no idea what to say to Mr. Wright, or if I even wanted to talk to him at all. I didn't know how I should feel about Mr. Gavin's death, if I should be… glad that he killed himself? No, no way should anyone ever be glad that someone else is dead, but at the same time, I wasn't exactly grieving his passing. I glanced over at my employer. He was staring at the bottle of juice in his hands with what seemed to be his regular expression of nonchalance, but I could tell from the slight furrow of his eyebrows and the minute stiffness in his jaw that inside he was far from his typical carefree hobo attitude.

"Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?" The paper was a week old, so it was obvious that he'd kept the news from me on purpose.

He shrugged, his gaze never leaving the bottle in his hand. "Didn't want to upset you." Well how did he think I felt now?! I opened my mouth to retort, but he cut me off. "Apollo, if I had told you about this earlier, you would have been freaking out way more than you are now."

He was right of course. I would've felt like the entire thing was my fault, regardless of the fact that he deserved to be behind bars where he could never threaten and/or kill anyone ever again. Man this was turning out to be a crappy week.

When I stepped forward to grab another bottle of juice, something started to irritate my skin. I scratched at my arm absently. Mr. Wright put his hand on my shoulder lightly. "Are you gonna be alright?"

I flinched away when I felt the faint pulse from his fingers through my shirt. "Yeah I'll be fine." I muttered. Stepping back, I saw why my skin had been burning. I had accidentally stepped into a patch of sunlight coming from a nearby window without realizing it. Good thing I didn't burst into flames. I'd ponder this later.

"You look like you could use some air. Why don't you go pick Trucy up from school?"

Was it that late already? Against my better judgment I agreed. In a strangely clear moment of logical thinking, I grabbed a nearby umbrella and scooted out the door before Mr. Wright could ask me why the heck I would need an umbrella on a sunny day.

Though I got plenty of stares as I was riding my bike down the street with an umbrella in one hand, it seemed like I was good to go as far as sun exposure as long as I avoided direct contact with it. Looking before you leap is for sissies! I pulled up to Trucy's school, avoiding the mobs of teenagers that seem to enjoy standing around blocking traffic, just as she came out of the doors. She hopped down the stairs with a few of her friends in tow and waved when she spotted me. I dragged my bike out of the way of the throngs of children and propped myself up against the wall to wait for her, ignoring the kids laughing at my umbrella.

All these children mindlessly following each other about… being posers to fit in, shuffling around shoulder to shoulder, they were all like sheep really. Too stupid to think for themselves, mindlessly being herded about. My eyes scanned the crowds, there were no teachers around. No adults to protect the lambs from a hungry wolf…

"Leave me alone, Shane." Trucy's agitated voice cut through the chattering of the teenage masses. My eyes flashed back to her quickly. She had been walking over to me, but some guy had cut her off and was obviously causing her some distress. I looked him over, dark flippy hair, kinda tall, fairly athletic. By the way they were interacting with each other he seemed like some sort of jerk playa.

I made my way over to them, doing my best to avoid brushing up against anyone. I couldn't hear what that guy said next, but as soon as Trucy saw me she pushed her way past him making a loud disgusted noise.

"Oh come on, don't be such a deadbeat." He said as he turned around, then glaring at me when Trucy grabbed my arm and dragged me along behind her (Good thing she was wearing gloves too). It looked like he was trying to decide which would be better to insult, my umbrella or my hair.

"Who was that?" I asked as I hopped onto my bike.

"Shane," She sighed, annoyed by the very thought of him. "He's a jerk, keeps coming onto me and being all pervy, he's gross. He wanted to drive me home but I was like 'Heck no!' Good thing I don't have to walk today, thanks."

"No problem, and you gotta be careful about guys like that." I wagged my finger at her. "I don't want you to get hurt or…anything…"

Trucy balanced herself on the back of my bicycle. "You don't have to tell me twice." So, Polly I have to ask, what up with the umbrella?" She giggled. "Have you developed weather-forecasting abilities as well?"

I chuckled, pedaling out onto the sidewalk. "No, I just…don't want to get sunburned?" I said lamely. For the record it IS possible to get a sunburn in October in LA.

"Psh, you've been sick for like 3 days, the sun will do you so good! And you're so pale!" She tilted the umbrella forward a bit. "And I'd feel a bit safer back here if you kept both hands on the handlebars!"

"You hold it then!" The bike wobbled precariously as I reached back to hand her the umbrella.

Of course she was not nearly as cautious as I was, not knowing the reason as to WHY I was shielding myself from the sun, and just ended up shading herself. My skin started to burn after the first few seconds so I started pedaling like the wind, nearly knocking Trucy off a few times.

The second the office was in sight, I slammed on the brakes and jolted the kickstand down, jumping through the door. Trucy came in shortly after, looking rather cross.

"Geez Polly, you nearly killed me with that breaking action of yours." She had her hands on her hips, but her expression changed to shock when she saw me. "Whoa, you really did get a sunburn!" What?! Well shoot. Still hurt like crazy, too. "Goodness, you were only out there for like a half hour."

"Mmmmhm." I flopped onto the couch again. I was tired and in pain- all I wanted to do was sleeeep. Which is exactly what I did.

I was vaguely aware of Trucy saying something after awhile, and I sleepily cracked an eye open. Something small and furry promptly swatted me across the head.

"LOOK POLLY IT'S A KITTY!!" Trucy yelled enthusiastically. Funny… didn't smell like a cat, smelled familiar…like…family…

Trucy pried my eyes open. "LOOK AT THE KITTY, APOLLO." I looked. Two big green cat eyes stared right back at me, which I immediately recognized.

"Jessibelle." I breathed, expecting to feel terror at the reappearance of the freak vampire's demon cat. But I didn't. I felt totally relaxed, like she was some old friend I hadn't seen in awhile. I reached out to pet her fuzzy grey head and she nuzzled against my hand, she looked like she felt the same way about me too.

"Jessibelle? Is that her name?" Trucy hopped up and down, jostling the cat a bit. Dang, that thing was almost as big as she was. An irritated grumble emitted from the poor creature.

"Y-yeah, I've seen her around here before…."

"Well that would explain why she was hanging around here." She started stroking Jessibelle like a mob boss. "She was outside, but she didn't have a collar… I was about to ask daddy if we could keep her." So not having a collar instantly made it okay to take an animal? Well I guess she looked ragged enough to be a stray.

"Most cats don't like wearing collars." I sat up and stretched. "What time is it?"

"Time for you to get a watch!" The magician proclaimed happily. "I dunno, but I think it's probably time for you to go home. You still look sorta tired." She set Jessibelle onto the ground. "But does this mean I don't get to keep the kitty?" she pouted.

Didn't Mr. Wright ever teach her about being cautious around strange animals? They could have rabies or something. Or vampirism. "Nope, sorry." I stood up, and Jessibelle started rubbing herself against my legs. "In fact…I think I'm going to… drop her off at her owner's on my way home…"

"Awwwwwww," Trucy leaned down to pet the cat one more time. "Well g'bye little kitty!" she laughed, reaching up to pet me on the head too. "And goodbye to you too, little Polly!"

So even kids shorter than me were making fun of my size now? Sigh. "Bye, _little_ Trucy." I nearly pet her back, but thought better of it remembering the last time we had skin-to-skin contact. "And 'bye Mr. Wright!" I called back towards wherever he must have been. I got a mumble in response.

Shutting the door behind me, we watched the last rays of the sunlight disappear behind skyscrapers and buildings in the west. I turned to Jessibelle, and she stared back with un-catlike understanding, starting down the street with her tail swishing in the air behind her. Swallowing my hesitation, I squared my shoulders, doing my best to keep my resolve intact as I followed the cat into the shadows of the night.**

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(1) TV tropes . org, Our Vampires are Different. I love that site.

AN: Ugh finally something interesting is happening, sorta.

...it also just occured to me that you Americans out there may find the concept of riding the back of a bicycle strange. Well over in like, Asia and places, people's bikes have little seat things on the back that people strap their groceries or stuff to, or people sit there... Not as hard to balance on as you may think.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: If you recognize something, it isn't mine.

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Thirst, Chapter 4

After a few minutes navigating less traveled backway-streets, I was beginning to wonder if following a stranger vampire-familiar cat was the wisest thing I could have done in the given circumstances. It was only a fleeting thought though, because really, what else could I have done? Nothing, that's what. NOTHING. DO NOT QUESTION MY MOTIVES.

Jessibelle made a little cat-noise of encouragement, seeming to sense my doubt. By now I figured that I really did have some sort of weird bond with the creature. Whether it was because cats and vampires got along or if it was just Jessibelle specifically because she was that… lady's cat, I wouldn't know.

Eventually she did stop, which I assumed meant that our journey was over. I should have brought my bike, I didn't think we would be going that far, but now that meant I had to stop back by the office before heading home. The sun had completely set by now, and I tried to ignore the weird sense of confidence that had come over me, most likely relating to some sort of hunting instinct. I had no idea where we were, I'd never been to this part of the city before. Bet no one would find my body here for weeks either… I looked around for anything resembling a vampire's castle or something, but the only buildings around were little apartment complex-condo looking things. Did vampires rent out apartments like regular people? How incredibly un-stereotypical. Jessibelle pranced right up to a nearby building like she owned the place and hopped into an open window, disappearing into the dark room. Guess I was on my own now.

I took a deep breath and jumped up the stairs to the door before I could actually come up with a more logical plan. The more I thought about this the worse I would make it out in my head. The door was unlocked. I guess vampires didn't really need to worry about people going in a stealing stuff and getting out alive. The door squeaked conspicuously as it swung inwards and I flinched, fully expecting something to drop from the ceiling and rip my neck out.

The room was dimly-lit, though there was plenty of light for my sensitive eyes, illuminating a sort of foyer that looked like it wasn't part of the building to begin with. They must've knocked down some walls or something, because it didn't look anything like an apartment building on the inside. I didn't have much time to look around, because I spotted Jessibelle's tail disappear and footsteps approaching from behind a corner. Oh, I could hear the footsteps this time! That was a good sign, I hoped.

I stood awkwardly in the doorway as the girl rounded the corner, looking less like the image of the horrifying monster burned into my memory and more like a shy little emo lady.

As soon as I had entered the building I had felt some sort of pressure on me, a presence nagging at my awareness, and as I saw her the force became almost unbearable. As if there were some sort of magnetic pull, I wanted to crawl to her and grovel at her feet, to follow her wherever she went and be her obedient serf for all of eternity. My Master vampire. I hadn't noticed I had moved across the entire room to be in front of her until she spoke to me after a long pause.

"I'm sorry." It was barely above a whisper, but the words rang in my head for a minute before I comprehended them.

"It's alright." I responded immediately, even though in the back of my mind I knew that it was most certainly NOT alright but that didn't matter to me now.

She bit her lip and looked like she was holding tears back. "No… I-I didn't know what to do… I thought I had killed you, oh I'm sorry!" Jessibelle purred and rubbed up against her legs comfortingly. That was definitely not what I had expected from her. And she didn't know what to do, she thought she had killed me? Well was I ALIVE now? I nearly asked, but didn't want to interrupt her. I did, instead, lean forward to give her a hug, which should have been the most awkward thing I could have done in the situation. She sniffed but seemed to appreciate the gesture.

"S'alright…" I muttered. She felt dead. Cold. It was very unnerving. Was this going to happen to me? She had no heartbeat, but I could still smell the subdued scent of vampire blood in her veins, borrowed from her victims, I assumed. Hell, it was probably MY blood.

She held me at arm's length, most likely observing me for the first time when I wasn't just "prey!" Even though she was quite a bit shorter than me, I still felt like I was being reprimanded by a parental figure. "…I like your hair." A smile tugged at her lips, and I just grinned. "So, what's your name?"

"Apollo Justice." She did manage to grin at that, but I was used to people laughing at my name and/or hair by now. And besides, it made me feel better that she was feeling better.

"I'm Isabelle. And this," Isabelle leaned over to scoop her cat up. Geez that thing was nearly as big as she was. "Is Jessibelle." She smiled as she pet the cat, and it nuzzled her face in response. Isabelle and Jessibelle. I would have laughed if the mood were lighter. "I'm sorry I didn't get to properly introduce myself….before…." Argh. I debated whether or not to ask her more questions or just let bygones be bygones, to not upset her anymore. She looked like she was really beating herself up over attacking me, and surely it was nothing personal. She was just thirsty at the time, and I happened to be the closest snack bar around. Totally not her fault.

I _was_ about to ask her when I was going to start craving blood when Isabelle stiffened and her shoulders bunched up ever so slightly in sync with Jessibelle hissing and her hackles rising as well. Another shadow emerged from the hallway she had come from. She stepped in front of me slightly as a tall, skinny looking guy walked- or _glided_ forward. The fluidity in his motions was definitely inhuman, and he smelled totally dead, just like Isabelle. His black hair fell in his face, obscuring one eye; he looked to be in his late teens, early twenties maybe. About the same age as me, I guessed. He sidled up to us, fangs glistening behind that grin of his, as if I needed any more proof that he was one of the undead.

"Who's this, Izzy, you got yourself some fresh meat?" He didn't sound hostile, just curious. If the term "fresh meat" could be used in a curious manner. Isabelle looked on edge though, and so was I.

When she didn't answer him, he turned to me. "Hiya, I'm Rick. 'S your name, kid?" Did he just call me kid? We had to be about the same age…

I paused to see if Isabelle would mind me talking to him, but she didn't say anything, so I went ahead and muttered "I'm Apollo."

"Well Apollo, it's nice to meetcha." It was actually pretty nice to meet someone who didn't react to my name at all. I guess when you're a vampire you hear a lot of strange names. He then turned back to Isabelle. "You might wanna get him out of here soon, if you don't want them sucking him dry. I could smell him from all the way down the hall…" What.

She seemed to ignore his strange comment, starring at the ground in what looked like... shame? "Don't… don't tell her." Huh? Tell who? What?

"I won't tell her. But she's going to find out." Whoever it was they were not telling, it didn't sound very promising for me.

"Find out what?" I dared to interrupt. My sense of adventure had faded since Jessibelle had led me here, and now if my physical being was at stake in any way, I was all for getting out of here. I was starting to feel a bit nervous.

"Find out about you." Rick flat-out answered my question. "If she- Cal- the head vampire around here- if she finds out you exist she will kill you."

My expression turned to one of panic. "B-but why would she kill me?! I didn't do anything!" and I enjoyed living! Wait… was I alive?

Isabelle put a hand on my shoulder to stop me on my rapid and admittedly noisy retreat towards the door. "Calm down Apollo, they'll hear you. You'll be fine." And instantly, I calmed down. I believed her. I couldn't _not _believe her.

"She'll kill you because you're a direct violation of our rules, she is the only one allowed to convert humans." Rick supplied unhelpfully.

_They'll _hear you? _Our _rules? How many vampires were there here? Isabelle bit her lip again. "Maybe you should leave after all, Apollo. I don't want you getting hurt." Why did it feel like she was my mother?

"Alright." I regarded them for a moment more, trying to sort out my thoughts.

Rick laughed once. "Wow, he really does just listen to you like _that_." He snapped his fingers. So I was feeling agreeable tonight, big deal!

I paused again. What do I do? Was I supposed to never come back here and just stumble through the rest of my life/undead life raiding blood banks and watching the SciFi channel at night?

Isabelle pushed me back towards the door, but seemed to pick up on my concern. "Go. I'll come find you later." She said in a low voice. "I think someone's coming. You have to leave."

Well you didn't need to tell me twice. I nodded, walking back towards the door, the others headed back to whatever was on the other end of that hallway. I was about five feet from being out of there when suddenly a jolt went thought me. I spun around as quickly as I could, while on the other side of the room Isabelle sucked in a sharp breath and I could hear Rick muttering a curse with alarm. Someone was here; the power that surrounded them was like a wall, pressing down on me. The room seemed to be closing in around me as I turned back around with fear clouding my mind.

I was vaguely aware of an unfamiliar female blocking my exit as I jumped backwards about a dozen feet, sliding backwards in a crouch. A growl rose in my throat but was choked off by what felt like an icy cold hand around my neck as two glowing red eyes stared at me. My arms froze up and I gasped for air frantically, and it filled my lungs with a rush as I was brought to my knees by some unseen force. The figure in the doorway hadn't moved a muscle, but her vibrant eyes were trained directly on me, narrowed in an expression of what I identified as annoyance as my breathing slowed and I calmed down.

If I thought Rick was gliding earlier, this lady was like a freaking figure skater in zero-gravity. Each step she took forward was like part of a dance, they seemed to propel her farther than her legs were reaching and her long silver hair fanned and twisted out behind her. Her flawless skin was pale in contrast to the dark red and black medieval princess-style dress she had on, fluttering in a nonexistent breeze.

She slithered up to me. "Well well well," she drew out the words dramatically. "What have we here?" Her voice was soft and melodic, her expression now one of serene innocence, but her façade was nowhere near enough to hide the dark, menacing power that radiated from her. Her eyes flickered to someone behind me, and I could sense Isabelle squirming under her gaze. "It looks to me like you haven't been following my regimen, Isabelle." She caressed the tips of her fingers over my jaw and neck lightly, the sharp points of her fingernails probably ready to rip out my throat any second.

I wanted her to stop cowering like a frightened rabbit and stand up for herself, or even better, for ME, but she just stood there quietly, leaving me at the mercy of this psycho. I tried to stand up- physically- but I found that I couldn't. It didn't feel like my body was frozen or anything, but it was like my brain just couldn't make it move. Or it had forgotten how to.

As if I wasn't freaked out enough already, it was extra terrifying to see several other figures appear out of the shadows around the edges of the room, their gleaming eyes narrowed at me suspiciously. It looked as though they were all gathered around for a show or a free meal or something. Either way that was extremely bad news for me. She lifted her hand up and I followed its motion, standing stiff with terror. I struggled to run or scream or ANYTHING but I was no longer in control of my actions.

"Isabelle, you know there are consequences for this," she lowered her hand and glared directly at the girl behind me. "For both you and him." My gut twisted in fear and anger, and I could feel my face start to heat up. It wasn't fair to punish Isabelle, wasn't killing me enough to satisfy this fruitcake?

I heard Isabelle whimper. "Yes ma'am…" I could feel her fear emitting from her like a beacon, whether she was scared for herself or for me I didn't really want to know. But was she really going to let me die like this without even trying to save me?

The vampire fruitcake turned her attention back to me again- what was her name? Rick had just mentioned it but I wasn't paying attention to anything but the fact that she was going to kill me... "Tell me, boy. What's your name?" She purred. Well why would she need to know that? Steal my soul or something? I kept silent, which maybe wasn't the wisest thing to do, because she seemed to get really pissed off suddenly.

"Tell me your name." She repeated with more force. I didn't, but this time it was because I was too terrified to. A growl rose, low in her throat, rippling through the air like an alligator's. Was my name really that important? She grabbed my throat again, too fast for me to even flinch if I could have, and I could see in her eyes that she was fully prepared to finish me off right there. She pressed one of her hideously pointed fingernails against my neck until a drop of blood welled to the surface. The shadowy figures around the edges of the room stirred.

My breaths came is spastic bursts. "A-Apollo Justice, m-my name is Apollo Justice," I managed to sputter out. What I would have given to hear chuckles instead of the hungry animalistic panting that I got as a response.

She took her hand off my neck slowly and licked the blood off of her fingernail – ew. "Well that wasn't so hard was it?" Her tone had lightened, but she continued to look at me with intense anger.

The bracelet around my left wrist contracted abruptly, causing me to gasp and inhale sharply. The hand that had just been around my neck, I could see each finger flexing into the shape of a hook, taking on an inhuman rigidness. She was about to strike, and that would be the end of me. I tried to move again, but even if I could there was no way I would get out of her range quickly enough. I shut my eyes. At least it was going to be quick, painless I hoped. I'd lived a full life. Well… actually I was an orphan, I didn't have a girlfriend, and my life sucked. Damn.

I was just in the middle of coming to terms with death when a soft, and unfortunately, extremely familiar voice sighed a protest. "Hold on." He murmured. …Oh God. How I wish I would die. I want to die right now, don't listen to him. I don't want to see him, I don't want to think about this man. This was just not my week. I tried my best to keep my eyes shut, but my inquisitiveness got the better of me.

Fruitcake's arm relaxed and she looked slightly annoyed at the vampire walking up behind me. I didn't dare turn to look. "I understand you may have some lingering emotions of mortality, but this is not your decision to make." She said to him.

"I understand that. However," I imagined him adjusting his glasses, as he was probably doing. "This one is quite important to me, you see…" a cold hand rested on my shoulder, I flinched and jerked to the side. Hey, I could move again.

They stood there in silence for a little while more, obviously Fruitcake wasn't used to having people defy her orders. "I promise he won't cause any trouble."

She actually, really, _pouted_. "W-well he's your responsibility. Yours, and _yours,_" she remarked in Isabelle's direction. Why did it sound like they were talking about taking care of a pet?

Mr. Gavin bowed slightly at the waist. "Of course, thank you m'lady." Grumbling came from the fringes of the room, the others had been denied a free meal. They started to skulk back to wherever they had come from.

Fruitcake glowered as she brushed past, stopping to hiss another vote of confidence in my direction. "Consider this your only warning: learn your place and don't cross me, or I will END you." I still sort of wished she would kill me, but before I could gather my thoughts enough to ask her to, she hurried on in a "places to be, people to kill" manner.

"Well, that could have ended badly." Rick remarked casually from- somewhere. I was too busy fleeing for the door to pay attention to much else. I caught one last glance of Isabelle's worried expression and the faint chuckle from Kristoph Gavin as I swung the door shut behind me.

It would have been a mercy to be killed swiftly by that deranged vampire woman, because now I was sure that Kristoph Gavin would make my death as slow and torturing painful as inhumanly possible.

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A/N: guys, if you had reminded me to work on this, i would have had it done months ago. srsly i just remembered it and added 3 more sentences and now im DONE. why didnt any of you REMIND me to WORK on this.

i like writing about teeth and writhing bodies and muscular inhuman creatures and guts flying everywhere. i should have written a werewolf story.

hopefully there will be blood next chapter? idk, i think klavier is scheduled for next chapter. man, i actually planned some of this, why cant i remember


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Apollo Justice and all that other junk doesn't belong to me.

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Thirst, chapter 5

I don't remember the trip back from the vampire lair. Either I was in a daze or someone knocked me out or hypnotized me, which I rule as a complete possibility. In any case the first thing I remember was sitting on a couch of the Wright Anything Agency in pitch darkness, but I could still see Kristoph Gavin's imposing form standing against the wall across me.

Still in a slightly delusional state, I was unsure of whether the figure in front of me was real or a stress-induced figment of my imagination.

"Are you dead?" I asked.

He grinned, flashing his needle-sharp pearly whites. "My heart no longer beats. I no longer eat food for sustenance and my body temperature is 50° below that of a human." Well I had meant that question as more of an "am I insane and seeing your ghost" sort of question, but uh… "I suppose you're also wondering why I'm here."

"Y-yeah**,** sort of."

He pushed himself off the wall slightly, his smile similar to the expression he wore when he was about to tear a testimony apart in court. "Well I certainly didn't expect that I would ever see you again, much less find that you've been turned into a vampire as well. But let me make one thing clear. Bygones are not bygones. I will not forgive you, and I will remember what you have done even after I cease to exist on this planet. There is no escape for you. I can promise that I will make your life miserable." He licked one of his rather protruding fangs for emphasis. "Yours, and everyone else responsible for the result of that trial."

Seeing my frightened deer-in-the-headlights expression, he chuckled, satisfied for now, and turned to leave.

"Hold on," I managed to squeak. "Just one thing. Is…. Is there a cure?" I almost whispered the last part, scared he's slap me for INSOLENCE or something.

He did pause though. "This isn't a disease." He said. "You can't just take a pill and get rid of it. Besides," he turned to grin at me one more time. "Why would you want to?"

Well**,** it was good to see his life was adjusting nicely. "Good night, Apollo." And with that he walked out the door, disappearing into thin air as he passed the threshold. I shuddered.

I spent the rest of the night in the office, too freaked out to go outside. My stomach was growling like an angry mother bear but I didn't have much of an appetite. There was a fridge in the office, but it was mostly filled with juice and I didn't want to make Mr. Wright angry by drinking all of it (and Kristoph probably poisoned all of it anyway). Sleep came surprisingly easy, I hadn't gotten much sleep last night and I was just so dang tired even though my impending doom gave me some freakish nightmares.

I was awoken by my skin being burned clean off by the horrible horrible sunlight. I rolled off the couch and onto the floor with a painful THUNK, gasping as I tried to keep my thoughts together. The noise was loud enough to usher in good old Mr. Wright from the adjacent room.

"Morning, sleeping beauty," He chuckled. "I was afraid I was going to have to kiss you to get you to wake up."

I stared at him blankly. What kind of joke was that**.**

"All kidding aside, Apollo, I see you aren't feeling alright. I know you were sick for a few days, and it's obvious you still don't feel all that great…" I nodded. "You know we're still probably going to have a bit of down-time after that last case so… maybe it's best if you got a little rest at home, eh?"

"You sure Mr. Wright?" he nodded. Awesome, a mini-vacation of sorts. Too bad I was turning into a bloodsucking monster and wouldn't be able to enjoy it.

"Oh yeah, and this." Mr. Wright grabbed a white envelope from his pocket and flung it to me as he walked back to the other room. It spun like a ninja throwing star and I caught it between my fingers. Oh boy, a paycheck.

xXx

I didn't even bother to cook the frozen tater tots I had just bought before devouring them messily. They were the same after they came out of the oven anyway, just warmer. I crunched through the pieces of potato quickly; my stomach was so empty that it felt like it was about to implode. And that would create a singularity and surely be the doom of this world as we know it. My mouth had a cold, waxy lining on the inside, but at least my stomach acid wasn't going to eat straight through my organs. The exposed part of my skin still itched painfully from the ride home in the middle of the day under the blazing L.A. sun. Wearing sunscreen seemed like a good precaution for the future.

I plopped down onto a chair with the bag of thawing tater tots. Now, what was I going to do with my life? I could leave the city, start a new life with an assumed name. Hermes Lawson, yeah that might work. I could live as a hobo in Nevada, or up in Canada as an ice road trucker. I could get far away from these crazy vampires and my crazy ex-mentor. I sighed, dumping the last of the 'tots into my hand and scarfing them down. I really should have cooked these, they tasted gross-- what was I thinking? And how was I going to stay away from vampires and avoid becoming one?

I licked the residue of crumbs and ice crystals from my fingers and grabbed my cell phone, sighing. I scrolled through my list of contacts until I came to the only man who I could probably call up for a drink in the middle of the day. "Prosecutor Gavin? I can't tell you why but I need to drown my sorrows RIGHT NOW and I was wonde-"

"ACHTUNG! LETS PAINT THE TOWN RED!!"

xXx

Oh God… nngh… what was that noise… and why did my head hurt so bad... gahh. I forced my eyes open to find myself on a wooden floor somewhere, behind a large black…box thing. I laid my head back on the floor and clenched my teeth, trying to quell the wave of nausea that washed over me. I vaguely registered several piles of books and papers lying around, and a few other less geometric shapes. Music was playing, and each clang of a finger picking against the metal strings sent my brain throbbing with a fresh wave of pain. I forced myself into a mostly sitting position, leaning against the black box for support. There was a fringe of reddish fabric hanging over from the top of the box, and there was a wavy CD case holder near the edge from where I could see. It was a desk, and I was in Prosecutor Gavin's office, extremely hungover.

Klavier Gavin was sitting in a fancy looking reclining chair a ways away from me, near the window that covered the wall. He had an acoustic guitar in hand, as usual, and he was strumming out an uncustomarily gentle melody, singing along softly.

"_Bring on the night  
I couldn`t stand another hour of daylight,"_

Thank God he wasn't playing any of his regular and atrocious rock music. The calm stuff he was playing now was bad enough on my headache. Man, I can't believe I passed out so easily. After these few days, it was apparent that I had some sort of superfast metabolism. Dang, I was thirsty again.

" _The future is but a question mark  
Hangs above my head, there in the dark,"_

I dragged myself forward, around an embarrassingly small stack of empty beer cans. The sun had gone down**.** I was probably behind the desk to avoid the sunlight from the huge window.

"_Can`t see for the brightness is staring me blind  
God bid yesterday good- _Oh hey Herr Forehead, you've returned to the land of the living! More or less." More or less? OH GOD WHAT DID I TELL HIM WHEN I WAS DRUNK. "I had no idea you were such a lightweight! We only had a few beers!" Oh yeah Klavier, well when your liver fails because of all that booze you chug down YOU'LL BE WISHING YOU HAD HAD LESS. AND I WILL MOCK YOU.

"Ughh… Prosecutor Gavin…"

"I told you earlier, Herr Forehead, there's no need for formalities outside of the courtroom. Or don't you remember?"

"….Right, Klaiver. Well the thing is, I sort of don't. At all**,** really."

He laughed, setting his guitar down on the chair and scooting to the floor to be level with me. "I have to say, you were babbling like a crazy person after awhile. I thought _I_ had some angst problems." Of course it would sound crazy, but what did I tell him? "And don't worry, I won't put any embarrassing pictures on the internet." Oh good. Wait, that meant that he HAD pictures… And man, couldn't that guy put on a shirt properly? He was practically begging a vampire to come along and take a bite out of that neck…

"Prose- Klaiver, would you mind telling me what I said to you?"

He regarded me a moment, playing with his platinum blonde bangs. "Ach, you really were wasted. It sounded like you've been watching too much SciFi channel. Ja, talking about… vampires, and my bro, heh, maybe what you needed was just a good night's sleep…" He had a joking expression on his face, but I could see the touch of concern and confusion in his light blue eyes.

Well this was difficult, should I tell him I was just spewing nonsense or that all that madness was the crazy and perhaps unbelievable truth? "Prosecutor Gavin… I may have been unbelievably drunk earlier, but what I was talking about… i-it's true." I gulped. "I was turned into a vampire. And y-your brother is one too, I've seen him."

Klaiver looked at me, trying to figure out if I was joking or not, before laughing again uncertainly. "Well Herr Forehead, I won't believe you until you sparkle for me."

"…I burn in the sunlight."

"Nein nein nein, you're right, you should leave the sparkling to me."

"Hey! I'm serious!" What reason would he have to not believe me? I'm a trustworthy person and I don't tell lies lightly! "Your brother's alive I swear- and he's out to get me and maybe you too so-"

I suddenly found myself thrown backwards against the desk behind me, Klaiver's outstretched arm pushing me into it. "Herr Forehead," His eyes were narrowed angrily and I was completely thrown off guard by his outburst. "I would appreciate it if you were to talk about something else." His heart was beating so fast**--** he must have been really pissed off. The pulse in his hand was so strong I could feel it through the thin dress shirt that I had on. The sound resounded in my ears, deafening me to whatever else he was saying, though I could tell that he was still mad. He must've had a bunch of repressed emotions and whatnot towards his brother, but geez that's no reason to be so angry. "-imagine how hard it must be, I mean, you never had a brother right, but-" Wowee, he was still talking. No I never had a brother so I guess I didn't really understand… Wait, what was he talking about again? I thought we were talking about vampires. It looked like he stopped talking, he was taking a big breath like he had finished and his heart rate was calming down… he started to take his hand off of my shoulder… from the way his arm was, the sleeve of his jacket and shirt had been pulled up slightly from his arm, exposing his wrist. The rock star's skin was incredibly tan, but I could see the bright blue veins and even the red arteries embedded farther into his flesh as clear as day. I leaned forward, following his retracting limb, and bit right onto the tendons where I could see the closest blue vein.

Klavier's immediate reaction was to jerk his arm away and let out a cry of surprise, which is exactly what he did, but I didn't let go. I clamped down harder, feeling the vibrations of his blood like lightning through my nerves. I couldn't break the skin, my teeth weren't sharp enough, no matter how much I angrily gnawed at his arm.

He kicked me in the ribs until he completely knocked the wind out of me and was able to pry my face from his forearm. He scrambled to the other side of his desk, cradling his now vividly red arm against his chest. "What the hell, Justice?!" He yelled, abandoning my little nickname. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

I stared at him in disbelief of my own actions. His yelling broke my train of thought that ached for the scarlet plasma beneath his skin. "God… P-Prosecutor Gavin… I'm sorry… I, I really didn't… mean to…" I was about to say that I didn't know what came over me, but the truth was, I did sort of know.

He had a similar look of shock on his face, inspecting the reddened indentations of my choppers on his flesh. That was definitely going to make a nasty bruise; at least I didn't end up breaking the skin…

I looked away guiltily, still hearing the echo of the thrum of the prosecutor's heartbeat. My bracelet was too tight, and by now I felt like I was going to throw up. "I-I'm going to go." I jumped to my feet and ran out the door, with all the motor control that my slightly hung-over state would allow.

* * *

AN: This chapters kind of short, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. I know I sure did, ohho. I enjoy writing about people feraly attacking other people. 8D

Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer. The song that Klaiver is singing is Bring On the Night by The Police. Expect many lame musical references from now on since Klavier's showed up now! 8D


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Yeah.

* * *

Thirst, chapter 5

_Ding dong_

I was so not in the mood to talk to anyone, but it was Isabelle at the door, I could tell. So I went to go answer it. Sigh. Well first I went to shove all the random junk cluttering the main table off into a trashcan. Entertaining guests wasn't one of the most pressing matters on my mind.

"Good evening." Isabelle chirped shyly, which is sort of an oxymoron, but she did it. I guess her entire demeanor was just pretty shy, so everything she did seemed like she was doing it with reserve. Anyway, she was obviously in a good mood tonight, which was just dandy. The very sight of her put me at ease, and I was once again aware of the strange way I felt her presence like a part of myself. "How are you doing tonight?" Heh… tonight… today… for vampires I guess idioms like that were reversed. Like saying "good morning" was like saying "good night" for humans.

"Not too good. This vampire business is a pain in the neck." I tried to stifle a smile at my own lame joke. She giggled.

"Do you know what a vampire's favorite animal is?" Isabelle asked.

"Um, a bat?" Or a cat, she had a cat…

"A giraffe." She giggled again. OH A GIRAFFE I GET IT. It's because of the neck. Aha. A feast for an entire family. A FEAST.

Jessibelle meowed from behind the girl, slipping through my legs and into my apartment. I held the door open for Isabelle, still chuckling.

"You have to invite me in."

"Oh, right. Uh, come in." She awkwardly shuffled past me and onto the couch in the combined living room-dining room-kitchen area.

"Hey can I get you anything?" Unfortunately, right after I said that I realized that the only thing she would want would probably be human blood. "Um, water? Tater tots?" I felt the insatiable need to please her somehow.

"No thank you." I got a glass of water for myself and sat next to her on the couch.

"Hey, what flavor ice cream is Dracula's favorite?" I said.

"I don't know, what is it?"

"Veinilla." We both giggled. Well I didn't giggle. I chuckled. I'm manly.

"How does a vampire girl flirt?" She says, leaning into me and gazing into my eyes.

"Uh. How?"

"She BATS her eyes." She then started to rapidly flutter her eyelids and I let out a laugh. Jessibelle jumped onto Isabelle's lap and let out and angry yowl, feeling left out. Isabelle stroked her cat as it continued to make noises of displeasement.

Woah hey, wait a second, how did they know where I lived?

"Hey… How do you know where I live?" Come to think of it, I woke up in my bed after I'd been bitten. The only person who could have brought me here was her.

She shrugged like it was no big deal. "Blood has power. When we drink blood we can tap into the power of that person, things like their memories. When I… caught you, you really wanted to get away… to be safe, home, I guess. Through that, I guess I could… tell where you lived?" I could hear a hint of guilt in her voice and didn't really sound sure of herself. I guess it was hard to explain. And I wasn't too eager to experience it for myself.

"I attacked one of my friends today." I told her.

"Oh I'm sorry… how did that… work out for you?" she didn't sound too concerned, she was probably used to hearing something like that.

"Well, it's a good thing I don't have fangs or else… I don't know what would have happened…"

Isabelle patted me on the back comfortingly. "Don't worry, if you feed on someone you _don't _care about then you'll be less inclined to take a bite out of people you know. And you don't really need to worry about that for a while." Wow. Well that wasn't really helpful. And kind of sociopathic. But if she said I should then it would probably be best for me to. "And yeah, about your fangs, well, in short, you're not a full vampire yet. Fledgling, that's what we call it. It's sort of a nice thing… You don't immediately wake up craving blood and you're not as weak against stuff like sunlight. But of course, you don't have many of the perks of being a vampire either." She smiled a little. "To put it simply."

Interesting, interesting… "So then, when do l I become a _real _vampire?" If I was having this much trouble being a baby vampire then what was going to happen later?

Isabelle looked down. "I don't know. Usually people die before it runs its course. Dying will turn you into a vampire instantly." She looked at me expectantly. As if it was a good idea to go ahead and die to get the waiting over with. No thank you. "Also, I should warn you about the others."

"The others? The other vampires?"

"Yeah. Most of them are jerks, but don't let it get to you. Really, just ignore them. Except for Calantha, the lady with the um…" The psycho with the temper problem? "Well you remember her. She nearly killed you the other day…" Yes I most certainly remember her. Isabelle's tone suddenly got solemn. "She's the boss. You must do what she says. You must obey her without question. Do you understand? If she is displeased in the slightest with you, she most certainly not hesitate to kill you. And me." Now that didn't sound pleasant at all. I nodded, shuddering.

After an awkward moment, the girl and her cat got to their feet and tugged me off the couch. "Come on, enough about scary vampire stuff, let's go somewhere." This girl was so not cut out to be a vampire.

"…As much as I would like to, I really need to get some sleep. I have work tomorrow…"

She looked at me, perplexed for a moment. "You've been trying to sleep during the night? Just going on with your life like normal?" I nodded. She looked like she wanted to say something else, but she didn't.

"Well, I'll see you later then." She gathered up her cat and left. The peace of mind that I had disappeared with her.

Van Hellsing was on the SciFi channel.

Xxx

"Hey Apollo, do some work for a change will ya." Mr. Wright tossed a folder onto the table that had sort of become my desk over the months. Judging by the grape juice stains and the picture of a pony that Trucy had drawn on the folder, I guessed that it wasn't very important. "Just some old paperwork I didn't do."

"Okay." At least it would be something to take my mind off of, everything else. I kept running my tongue over my teeth to see if the points of my canine teeth had become more pronounced. I don't know if it was in my head or what but they did seem a tiiinny bit sharper.

"I'm going out. Make sure Trucy doesn't hurt herself." He gave an anxious glance over to his daughter, who was in the process of juggling plastic knives.

She caught the knives and pouted with her hands on her hips. "Oh come on daddy, at least I'm practicing with these plastic ones first." She threw them back in the air, tossing them back and forth. She really wasn't that bad at it. "Besides, the Gramaryes used to do that one gun trick! If I want to be a good magician I have to do some daaaangerous stuff!"

"Uhhuh, and look how they turned out…" I heard Mr. Wright mutter on his way out. "Just be careful. I'll be back soon."

Alright alright, paperwork… While I wrote down random stuff I glanced at Trucy's pony drawing. It was totally staring at me. I took a bite out of a sandwich I had made. Well it wasn't much of a sandwich, it was really more like two slices of bread and a single slice of cheese. But anyway. I made short work of it and another bottle of grape juice.

There was a flash of light in my peripheral vision, I looked up. Trucy had abandoned her wimpy plastic knives and was now slinging metal spikes of death through the air. "Trucy! What on earth are you doing!"

Her eyes were spinning, following the blades. "Polly don't break my concentration!" she whined.

"Trucy that's extremely dangerous! Put those down right now! They aren't even throwing knives, who knows what kind of weird trajectory they might have!"

"Polly, they're steak knives, not hook swords. I'll be fine!" Well she did seem to be doing a good job of not maiming herself, even as she threw a knife up from under her leg and caught it again, nearly giving me a heart attack.

"Geez, well just put those back before Mr. Wright comes back and kills me." I frowned, turning back to the paperwork.

And it would have been a relatively uneventful day, if the young magician hadn't tried to do some fancy fancy knife chucking and grabbed the edge of one of the knives instead of the hilt.

I inhaled deeply, tasting a metallic tinge as my heart pounded. "Argh, shoot!" the knives dropped around her as she let out a yell, blood lining one of the blades. There was an ache in my wrist but I barely noticed as I vaulted over the desk.

"Owwie… " I heard her sniff, there were probably tears welling in her eyes but I was too preoccupied with the blood welling in the small gash she had given herself across the palm. She jumped when she saw me. "W-whoa, Polly, how did you get over here so quick?"

I managed to tear my gaze from her bleeding hand and picked up the knives on the ground. "Ahh, thanks Polly, do you think you can like, not tell daddy? He'll be all worried and he won't let m-" Her speech stopped abruptly when she saw me run my tongue along knife she had cut herself with. "Apollo… what are you…" I peeled the white glove off of her bleeding hand. The sound of it rushing through her body and the smell of the slowly oxidizing blood oozing from the cut filled my head.

Taking hold of her wrist so she wouldn't try to pull away, I tentatively licked the length of her thin wound. The taste of it exploded in my mouth- hot and sweet and rich. I dimly registered Trucy saying something, but I couldn't help myself from placing my mouth over it and squeezing more blood out with my teeth, feeling it run like a trickle of delicious lava down my perpetually parched throat.

It wasn't enough.

"APOLLO!" she jerked her wrist out of my grasp and jumped back a few feet. "What on earth are you doing?!" The breath I exhaled sounded suspiciously like a snarl. She wasn't that scared, just a little freaked out. I could smell the adrenaline in her slightly elevated heart rate.

"Apollo… what…" She wanted me to say something but I couldn't find my voice. I just started at her, trying to comprehend what had just happened and trying to overcome the intense desire for her blood. You are the predator, she is the prey, a voice inside me said. There was only one way to get what I wanted, and that was to rip her apart, it said.

"Trucy…" I choked out, and with that the spell was broken. I ran to the nearest trashcan and hurled my guts out, disgusted at what I had done. But it was too late, I had tasted it and it tasted good. And so I joined the ranks of the undead/eternally damned or something. I hung onto the edge of the trash can, my head feeling fuzzy. "Urrghh…. Trucy, I'm sorry…" But sorry probably wasn't good enough. Was she going to call the police now? Or… God… If she called her father, he'd throw me into a tub of flaming garlic and holy water lined with stakes. Not to mention fire me.

I heard her walk over to me slowly. "…It's okay, Polly, I'm the one who cut myself…" She patted me on the shoulder, kneeling down next to me without any hesitation.

I turned to face her, confused. "You're not afraid? Freaked out? A little?"

"Well, it was an accident, right? I never knew you were a vampire, but I guess I'll just have to be more careful with sharp objects to not cut myself!" She laughed. What kind of desensitized world do we live in when kids today don't find vampire bites out of the ordinary. "Okay I'll admit, I was a little scared when you licked the knife like that with your eyes all red, that was weird."

"…Trucy, please don't tell anyone about this."

"Of course of course Polly, I know that secrecy is a huuuge big deal to the vampires!" She suddenly sounded rather lighthearted. "Tell me, who was it that changed you? Was she a sultry mistress cloaked in the veil of the night who tempted you with the lure of immortality and power in return for your soul." Oooookaay, someone's been hittin' the teen romance novels a little too hard.

"No not really, she's a shy girl with self esteem issues and she attacked me in the middle of the night in a terrifying display of fangs and blood and gore."

She stopped smiling.

We spent the remainder of work talking about vampire nonsense. When Mr. Wright got back he just thought we were talking about Trucy's teen romance novels, and looked at me strangely.

I kept trying to tell myself that it could have been worse and that drinking blood was a natural part of any vampire's lifecycle, but screw that who was I kidding. I was going to end up hurting people, or worse, devouring their bodies in an uncontro-

"Hey Apollo." Jesus Christ, someone right behind me scared me out of my wits, with an unfamiliarly masculine voice. I know appearing out of nowhere right behind someone probably makes vampires feel cool, but I was having a hard time appreciating it.

I turned around to see that one guy from the other night… His name was Rick if I remembered correctly. He flicked his emo hair to the side like he was the shiz. "Don't do that. What do you want, why are you here?" Sneaking up on me had definitely put me in a bad mood. I was still at work, the sun hadn't even set yet. I didn't think a vampire would risk coming out in the sun like this. Trucy and Mr. Wright were in another room, I hoped they wouldn't come to see what was going on.

"Came to see you." He said. How did he bust in here without making noise with the door or anything? "Izzy asked me to come by, wanted me to teach you basic vampire stuff or something so you don't get yourself killed." Surely out of the kindness of his soul.

"Why didn't she come herself?" I was sort of under the impression that I was her responsibly, but Rick seemed okay the last time I met him.

"Because I'm such a nice person. And I was bored. And Izzy thought it would be less awkward, two guys having bro time instead of you and the girl who turned you into a vampire." He himself didn't sound so convinced, but okay. He grinned. "So get ready to have some fun, we're hitting the town."

"You're going somewhere, Polly? Can I come?" Trucy walked back into the room. I was nervous nervous about having her in the room with Rick, I didn't really know what he was like… "Oh, who's this, one of your friends, Polly?" She smiled and giggled, suspiciously enough. I heard Rick chuckle at "Polly." "Well? Introduce us!" I didn't like the way she was looking at him. Or the way he was looking at her.

"Sure… Trucy this is Rick, my uh, friend. Rick, Trucy… she's my boss's daughter." I tried to say it in a way that meant that she wasn't on the menu. Rick smiled and said hi, but then turned to me and paused, her back to the girl.

"Hey, she's cute." He said softly. "Is she yours?" Mine? What? I shook my head dumbly. "Heh, then I guess you wouldn't mind if I…" he trailed off, turning around, his fangs glinting.

Oh no, was he going to attack her? I doubted I could take on a full vampire if I came between him and his mean, but I had to do something bef-

"Hey Trucy, are you doing anything Friday night?"

What.

* * *

AN: Oh you guys. I was too lazy to edit this too much so you're just gonna have to deal with it.

don't worry the random subplot with rick and trucy is purely for comedic purposes


End file.
